Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani told a roomful of regional leaders Wednesday that a new football stadium is more likely to get built with political and financial support from around the county, and that a public vote on the venue would almost certainly slip to 2013 — when a fresh crop of politicians would be joining the debate.

“We think we would do better on a countywide vote than we would in just a citywide vote,” Fabiani said. “So our lawyers have already advised us, and will continue to, about the kinds of things that would justify a countywide vote.”

Fabiani’s comments came during a dinner that kicked off an annual retreat for the San Diego Association of Governments’ board of directors, which is comprised of 19 mayors, city council members and county supervisors. As special counsel to Chargers president Dean Spanos, Fabiani has been the public face of the team’s effort to build a new stadium since 2002.

SANDAG is a planning, transportation and research agency that could become increasingly important as the Chargers continue lobbying for a venue to replace Qualcomm Stadium. The team is focused on the possibility of building a stadium in East Village on a roughly 15-acre site that includes a bus yard owned by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.

SANDAG could become involved in an effort to pay for transportation-related infrastructure improvements or a replacement bus yard, but it seems unlikely the agency’s revenues — a mix of federal, state and, via the TransNet sales tax, local dollars — would be used for stadium construction.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has been talking about a stadium as a regional asset for months. In October, he said he was “working with” county supervisors Ron Roberts and Dianne Jacob and SANDAG on the stadium issue.

Wednesday, Fabiani touted a stadium’s economic value beyond the city of San Diego. He said the Chargers and the National Football League could together contribute $400 million toward a project that could reach $1 billion. He suggested the rest might come from taxpayer support, naming rights and the potential lease or sale of city-owned land at the Qualcomm site in Mission Valley and the Sports Arena site in the Midway area.

After Fabiani noted that both his team and Sanders have retained financial experts to identify revenue sources, Roberts said county officials will meet with the mayor’s consultant in coming weeks.

“We will hear about the latest efforts in locating the team’s field of dreams and engage in a discussion with the high-profile wheeler and dealer for the team as to whether the professional football team is a regional asset,” the agenda said. “If the Chargers are a regional asset, what, if anything, should SANDAG do?”

The question prompted a funny exchange when Lemon Grove Mayor Mary Sessom asked why voters in her city would weigh in.

Assuming a plan develops, Roberts said, “The supervisors can put it on a countywide vote and Lemon Grove, along with any other city, without having an obligation for funding, would get to vote.”

Sessom gave him a double thumbs-up.

“Should you want to contribute ...” Roberts then added, to laughter.

Fabiani said 2012 will be a significant year, regionally, for a stadium proposal.

“There is no scenario that I know of that just has the city and then Chargers doing this,” he said. “It’s going to be an effort that encompasses the entire region. Now what exactly that looks like, what people are going to be asked to do, what people can do, all of that is very much up in the air and all of that we hope will come into clearer focus as the year goes on.”